Chance Encounter
by Mark C
Summary: Castle and Beckett have cross paths with one of New York's famous heroes.


**Disclaimer:** All characters within are the property of ABC Studios and Marvel Comics

**Summary:** Castle and Beckett have cross paths with one of New York's famous heroes.

**AN:** Thanks goes out to htbthomas for her amazing beta skills.

* * *

Detective Kate Beckett put the final touches to her report. It had been an extremely long week - the case that her team had worked on and just closed was a difficult one. All cases involving children were hard. In the end they had found their man – woman to be precise.

"Are you done with your paperwork?" Rick Castle asked tiredly from his seat next to the detective's desk.

"Just finished." She closed the file.

"You still up for dinner tonight?"

"I should be the one asking _you_ that. If you don't feel up to it, I'd understand."

"No, Alexis has been looking forward to you coming over."

"Well, we wouldn't want to disappoint Alexis, now, would we?"

"I'll just give her a call to tell her we are on our way."

Beckett smiled slightly as she put her coat on. She really did like spending time with Castle's daughter. Actually she didn't mind being in the company of the whole Castle clan.

Castle pocketed his cell phone and pulled his jacket from the back of the chair. "It's all set. In case you are wondering, tonight's dinner will be spaghetti with meatballs in the most scrumptious sauce you've ever tasted."

As they got into Beckett's car on the street, the two were nearly run over by a navy blue Plymouth Barracuda.

"Jeez, what's his hurry?" Beckett tried to take down the plate number, but noticed there was none.

Castle wasn't paying the car any attention. "Take a look up there, Beckett." He pointed up, a giddy smile on his face.

To her surprise, she saw a man swinging over the city streets in pursuit of the vehicle. It did not take her long to realize that the person following… was Spider-Man.

"Castle, get in," Beckett ordered.

Castle jumped in, and shouted a perfect imitation of Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane from _The Dukes of Hazzard_. "Looks like we're in hot pursuit!"

Beckett rolled her eyes and concentrated on catching up.

* * *

_Typical_, Spider-Man thought as he continued swinging after the car he was chasing. _Mary Jane is expecting me for dinner and a movie. The old Parker luck is running true to form but I know she will understand._

Peter had been on his way home when he spotted a robbery. Ducking into an alley, he changed into his Spider-Man costume and was off. When he returned to the scene, he spotted a car racing away and followed.

Being led on a merry chase wasn't something new to him, but the webslinger swiftly caught up and landed on the car's roof. Crawling to the driver's side, Spider-Man tapped on the window and asked, "Can I see your license and registration please?"

That question got him a typical response which set off his spider-sense, gunfire.

* * *

"Did you just see that, Beckett?" Castle asked in awe of the wallcrawler's abilities.

"My focus right now is on keeping up with them." Beckett was actually secretly impressed.

* * *

Spider-Man dodged the shots easily. The two men in the car were not making it easy for him to protect innocent bystanders. The driver began swerving the vehicle to try and throw the web head off while the passenger took over shooting at the hero.

Spider-Man aimed and fired some webbing through the driver's side window into the wheel well. The car started to slow down and he maneuvered the vehicle down a deserted alley by grabbing hold of the steering wheel.

_That takes care of one problem. Now let's see about the other_, thought Spider-Man as he took careful aim at the passenger's gun. He clogged the passenger's gun with a well-placed web shot, making it useless.

Just as the car headed toward a dumpster, the wallcrawler let go of the wheel and immediately jumped off.

"Holy sh…" the driver exclaimed as his car smashed into the dumpster, setting off the air bags, and trapping both men inside.

"Jeez, watch the language. I'm an impressionable wallcrawler." Spider-Man forced the door open and took the driver out. "Looks like your friend needs a hand. I'd be happy to oblige."

Beckett, gun drawn, and Castle arrived at the scene just as Spider-Man was extricating the two men from the vehicle. As the second man was coming out, the detective caught sight of the double barrel of a shotgun aimed at the webswinging hero.

"Gu...!" Beckett shouted in warning.

Before she could finish, Spider-Man's spider-sense blared. In one swift motion, the webslinger removed the weapon from the man's hand and webbed it to the alley wall.

"Now, now, it's not nice to play with guns." He then proceeded to web the man's hands together.

"Way to go, Spidey!" Castle cheered.

Spider-Man turned in the direction of the voice to see a man and a woman approaching.

Beckett holstered her gun and identified herself by holding up her badge, "I'm NYPD detective Kate Beckett and this is my partner Richard Castle. We saw you chase after that car and decided to do the same."

"It's a good thing the detective here decided to follow us, or else I would've gotten creative in leaving you to the authorities," Spider-Man told the robbers.

The wallcrawler lead Beckett and Castle over to the car to claim the ill-gotten gains of the criminals. In the back seat was a satchel full of money, watches and other such valuables. Once the stolen goods and a gun were removed, Castle closed one of the doors and the force of his actions popped open the trunk which held a grisly surprise.

"Beckett, we got a body back here," Castle told her as he motioned to the trunk.

Inside there was a deceased middle-aged man. The cause of death seemed to be two gunshot wounds to his chest.

Spider-Man got a good look at the decedent's face. "Damn."

"Did you know him?" Beckett asked.

"I'm afraid so, detective. His name is Mario Lacasa and he ran a nice little shop. A real decent guy too."

"I'm sorry."

Spider-Man turned to the robbers and asked in a sad tone, "Why?"

"We didn't mean to shoot the guy," the one robber blurted out.

"Shut up, Marv." His partner elbowed his friend in his side.

"The guy just wouldn't cooperate. Harry waved his gun at him to show we meant business and he still didn't want to follow orders…"

"Shut up, Marv!"

"Both of you shut up!" Spider-Man exclaimed as he webbed their mouths shut.

_Wish I could do that to Castle when he talks too much_, thought Beckett with a slight smile.

"They'll have plenty of time to talk in prison, where they'll probably spend the rest of their lives," mentioned Beckett. "Thanks for catching these guys."

"Not a problem, detective," Spider-Man said as he extended his hand. To his surprise, Beckett shook it.

Castle and he eagerly shook the superhero's hand next.

Something clicked in the hero's head. "You're the author of the _Nikki Heat_ books aren't you?"

"That's right," Castle beamed proudly.

"They're not bad."

"Coming from you, that means a lot."

At the end of the alley, more police and the CSU arrived on the scene. Feeling no longer needed, Spider-Man fired a webline and waved goodbye to the detective and the author.

Castle pulled out his phone and started dialing.

"What are you doing, Castle?" Beckett asked as she instructed to a pair of uniforms to take the culprits away.

Castle answered, "I'm going to let Alexis know we'll be a little late. She's not going to believe we actually met Spider-Man."

"You're probably right."

"One more thing, Beckett," he added before turning away to talk to his daughter. "Best. Case. Ever!"

Beckett just shook her head. "It wasn't bad," she said, but her small smile betrayed the way she really felt.

**The End**


End file.
